From Email Patrick O'Sullivan

I have now had the time to look at the Cornell Digital Library Collections.

This is becoming an extraordinary resource. Especially 'The Making of America'
collection - digitized pages of C19th American books and journals. This system allows you
to view scanned images of the actual pages of the 19th century texts. Optical Character
Recognition (OCR) has been performed on the images to enhance searching and accessing the
texts.

The entry point is at...

http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/

As will be seen the OCR is not perfect, but it does mean that complex searches can be made
of a great mass of C19th North American material. Pages of books and journals can be
printed off, or captured as text and taken into your own documents. (It took me a little
while to work out how to do this - use the top left menu to select Display as 'text'.
This gets you the OCR-ed text. You can then Copy and Paste that text in the usual way.)

I was able to quickly look at a number of things that interest me - like American comment
on C19th English philosophers and policy-shapers. Thus I found in the North American
Review a scathing attack on Buckle, History of Civilization in England. Another theme is
American reporting on the potato blight in Europe, and the Irish Famine. I found in
Littel's New Age an item on the aftermath of the Irish Famine, which I have shared with
the Ir-D list, as a separate long email. This is evidently reprinted from Household
Words, the London journal edited by Charles Dickens. (Copyright? What copyright?) I
have not as yet been able to identify the author.

P.O'S.


- --
Patrick O'Sullivan
Head of the Irish Diaspora Research Unit

Email Patrick O'Sullivan
Email Patrick O'Sullivan

Irish-Diaspora list
Irish Diaspora Studies http://www.brad.ac.uk/acad/diaspora/

Personal Fax National 0870 284 1580
Fax International +44 870 284 1580

Irish Diaspora Research Unit
Department of Interdisciplinary Human Studies
University of Bradford
Bradford BD7 1DP
Yorkshire
England

From Email Patrick O'Sullivan

One of those labour-of-love Web pages, but nicely done...

Irish Impressionists

http://home.earthlink.net/~ckau/irish/

Brief items on the following Irish painters - most of them based in France, and/or
influenced there...

Walter Osborne
William John Leech
Richard Thomas Moynan
Roderic O'Conor
Nathaniel Hone
Frank O'Meara
Aloysius O'Kelly
Dermod O'Brien
Sarah Purser
Henry Jones Thaddeus
William Gerard Barry
Paul Henry
John Lavery
Nathaniel Hill
John Kavanagh
Norman Garstin

With reasonable quality - though small - images of key paintings. Enough to give you a
flavour of the work...

P.O'S.

- --
Patrick O'Sullivan
Head of the Irish Diaspora Research Unit

Email Patrick O'Sullivan
Email Patrick O'Sullivan

Irish-Diaspora list
Irish Diaspora Studies http://www.brad.ac.uk/acad/diaspora/

Personal Fax National 0870 284 1580
Fax International +44 870 284 1580

Irish Diaspora Research Unit
Department of Interdisciplinary Human Studies
University of Bradford
Bradford BD7 1DP
Yorkshire
England

From Email Patrick O'Sullivan

Littel's Living Age
Vol. XXXV
1852
pp 569-571

Text of page:
THE FAMINE TIME 569

From Household Words.

THE FAMINE TIME.

I WAS looking, with some amusement, into a
back-yard in a little Irish town, from the window
of a house next to that to which the yard belonged,
when my hostess explained to me that the beggar-
man whom I was watching was irremovable. He
had been turned out by the shoulders again and
again, and always came back, refusing to work,
and preferring to lean against the corner of the
wall to beg. There was in the yard a more active
beggar; the pig. Two stout, merry girls, bare-
legged and untidy, were sitting on the ground, be-
fore a great heap of potatoes and a mighty iron pot.
They were sorting potatoes; the better sort for
human eaters, the worse for the black pig. The
pig was in a hurry, poked in his nose, and had to
be driven away. There was a third girl sitting on
some steps with her arms crossed, looking idle,
and provoking the others?one of whom got into a
passion, and showed it as Irish people do when
they get angry.
?Ah !? said my hostess, ?we see strange
people and strange doings in that yard; and it is
not the pleasantest place to overlook. But we are
glad enough to see anything like those potatoes
and that pig, and people who can laugh, after what
we saw in the famine time. For months together
that yard was crowded?so crowded, that you could
not have thrust in a hand among them?with
people groaning and wailing day and night; some
dyin~, and others bringing their dead, till our
hearts were almost broken.?
?I wonder how you lived through it,? said I.
?So do we. But we had to rouse ourselves,
and do our duty. There were only my husband
and Mr. Zachariab (the clergyman) to give out the
relief by which the whole country side was kept
alive. I was often at home, with that yard full of
people before my eyes, while my husband was
absent?gone to see to the landing of the meal?
and I uneasy about him?the people grew so
violent! There was always an escort of constabu-
lary to guard the meal from the ship hither; but
the people were ready to tear thema to pieces to ~et
at the meal. It was bad enough at first, when
the government insisted that the men should work
on the roads to earn their share. The poor fellows
could no more work on the roads than my baby
could; and they were dropping and fainting by
the roadside as soon as they tried. We thought
that the worst sight we had ever seen till we saw
worse. We knew that the government could not
be aware of the real need, if they could make
such a condition ; and we were afraid to look for-
ward. It was just then that Mr. Yarding?a gen-
tleman of one of the most ancient families in Ire-
land?brought home his bride to his estate, close
by the town. He drove her through the town in
as pretty a turn-out as you could see; and a neigh-
bor said to my husband, when he looked from the
carriage to the people in the street, ?Mr. Yarding
will repent that pair of horses before six months
are over.? And so, no doubt, he did. The
value of his land sunk to nothing; he could not
meet the calls upon him, nor pay his rates; and
now he is shut up in his own place, the gates
locked day and night (Sundays and all), and he
dares not look through the bars into the road.?
?And how did you get food for yourselves l?
I asked; ?and how did you eat it, with that mul-
titude of groaning people before your window
?We never enjoyed a meal during that year.
There seemed to be a poison over everything.
There was no flour to be had good enough for us to
give the children; and the officers, and agents, and
servants employed in the distribution, were for-
bidden to buy any of the meal that was sent.
This was hard and unjust, and, in fact, it could
not be carried out. They got it by sending their
servants and buying for one another; and, paying
properly for it, they did not feel it was wrong.
There were no vegetables to be had but the black,
rotting potatoes. We could get a sheep for flv~
shillings, because there was nothing to feed sheep
with; and for that reason the mutton was hardly
eatable. Nothing seemed to have its proper tasts
or to be real food at that time or for long after.
You were laughing to-day at the flocks of geese
along the road, spreading their wings and strad-
dling away before the car. Well, among all thos
deserted villages that you passed through, there
was not a goose in those days. There was not a
pig, nor a donkey in all the district, from sea to
sea.?
?What became of the donkeys The people
did not eat them, I suppose.?
?Indeed but they did. My husband saw the
meat hanging out of their pockets. And worse
creatures than donkeys disappeared in the same
way. There was, after a time, not a living crea-
tare but human beings to be seen from sea to sea,
except the horses that brought the meal from the
ships. The second time that we thought we
had seen the worst was when the meal was sold a~
half-a-crown the stone. Think what a priee that
was! But it was paid as long as there ?~ as any
money in the district. That yard was as crowded
then as afterwards. My husband and his men
could not get through the business of serving it,
though, to save time, every buyer must tie up his
half-crown in the corner of the bag he handed in.
It was astonishing the number of bad half~crowns
we took in the course of a few weeks; there was
no time to look whether the money was good or
bad; but my husband bad to account for it, of
course, as if it was all good. The men would
begin at daylight (what a sight it was to open the
shutters and see the people who h~ d been waiting
all night!), and they went on kindly all day.
Towards evening the men would grow silent, and
sigh; and at eleven or twelve o?clock they would
say, ? Sir, you can?t get more out of me than is
in me; I can?t do it, sir. I have had no refresh-
ment all this day, and I ?m done up. I am willing
to stand by the people as long as I can, but I can?t
do more than I am equal to.? Then may husband
would say, ?Well, go to your supper, and my
wife and I will turn to again for an hour, lest some
of these people should die before morning. But
we will shut up in an hour; by that timne the
worst will be served.? We did shut up in an
hour, leaving, perlmaps, sixty or seventy people
outside. But when the men had sat down for
a while, and had had their supper and their pipe,
they would cheer up; and then they agreed to
what my husband said: ?There are only sixty or
seventy. Let us send them away, and then we
can, perhaps, go to sleep, having done our best.?
So we opened again, and went on till two or three
in the morning. But that, you see, was while
people were still able to pay.?
?How could things be worse whea the money
was gone 1?
?Why, it was almost worse to know where
hunger was, without being told, than to have it
come before our eyes. We knew pretty well how
matters were with some good many people who
ceased to send for meal, and who were never to be
seen in the daylight; people who lived in good
houses, full of good furniture, which of course
they could not sell. My husband mentioned this
to the Friends? Relief Committee, and they imme-
diately desired him to do what was necessary for
such persons, in the way in which they could
receive it. So, when the day?s work was done,
we used to put up bags of meal, and my husband
would have the horse put into the cart, and he
would go round and drop these bags at the proper
doors in the dark. A difficulty came out of this,
however. They supposed they owed these gifts to
my husband; and it was not an easy matter to
explain at the time. But?I don?t know?perhaps
some sights were worse than knowing things that
we did not see. People would come to that win-
dow with two baskets, one before and one behind,
and?and?a dead child in each.?
After a pause she went on?
?My husband and I used to think that it was
the people?s way?they thought it right, of course
?to sacrifice one child to give a chance to the rest.
We used to observe that one child was particularly
petted?always in its mother?s arms?and that one
was always excessively emaciated, and died pres-
ently; and we used to think its share was given
to the others, and -
?This is unbearable !? I exclaimed. But in a
moment I considered what it must have been to
see it, and was ashamed. I asked her to go on.
She did. It was a relief to her.
?It was a terrible thing to have to go out at
that time, and afterwards, when the fever and
cholera followed the famine. The dead and dying
used to lie in one?s path. One lady, crossing a
field through the long grass, found a child?a little
girl?hidden there, alive but insensible. She was
saved; and so was a little orphan creature of two
years old, who had strayed away by himself to a
dunghill on the road, where a pig seized him, and
would have destroyed him but for a car happening
to come up at the moment. There were cases
every day of little creatures being found among
the nettles, or squatted under turf-stacks, or asleep
at the door of a cabin where the last of their rela-
tions lay dead within. One of these saw the old
roof tumbled in on his mother?s corpse. Some
neighbor, who had just strength to do that, did it,
because there was nobody to bury her??
?Has not the lowest class of cabins ~disappeared
since that time, or nearly so?? I inquired.
?Yes. The unroofed cottages, with their stone
gables standing up bare?a sight which you think
so sad and forlorn?were houses of a better order
than the mud cabins you have read so much about.
These stone cottages were inhabited by tenants
who have gone to America and elsewhere, as well
as by people who died of fever and famine. The
mud cabins have melted away. Some, which you
suppose to be dunghills or mud heaps, are plainly
ruined cabins to our experienced eyes. No doubt
many of them are graves of uneoffined corpses.
TIme bones will be turned up by the plough or the
spade some day; and then, when they are found,
singly or in families, men will say, ?These are
people who died in the famine.? There are many
children now in the orphan school who, the last
survivors of their families, know that one parent
waa,just hi44en in the groun4 in a bag, and the
other without any covering at all, while the
brothers and sisters lie under the ruins of the cab
in. But, dreadful as is the reason and fearful the
way, it is true that the lowest order of dwellings
has nearly disappeared; and may they never be
seen more.?
?Never, indeed !? I replied. ?Those that re-
main are wretched enough. And when you used
to shut the shutters at night,? said I, ? were you
able to think at all of other things?to sleep?to
cheer one another ??
?Why,? replied she, ?I cannot say we were,
during the worst?the latter?part of that dread-
ful year. There were reasons why, with our house
full of good children, home was worst of all.
There was a fine young man?an excellent fellow
indeed he was, and very clever?an officer in the
commissariat department, who had been for some
time engaged to our eldest dlwghter. She was
very young, to be sure?only eighteen that year;
but they knew one another very well; and, in
short, everything was ready, and we were getting
the license?for we did not like to make them wait
longer?when he took the fever. Nothing could
keep her from him. LIe was in a lodging in the
town, and lay in a close inner room. I did not
know which way to turn myself; but her aunt
went with her; and there she nursed him, very
quietly, saying little to anybody. One day Dr. A.
came to my husband, and said, if she remained in
that inner room with a fever patient, so closely as
she nursed him, she would be down in it presently.
So her father and I went, and brought her away
home to dinner. She made no particular objection
when we had once got her away, and we said no
more about it, but kept on talking as cheerfully as
we could; and she seemed reconciled, and ate
some dinner. Soon after, she had disappeared;
and we knew where she was. But, by that time,
her aunt had taken the fever.?
?And did the young man die ??
?0 yes, he died! Her father and I were there;
and we brought her away?she, in fact, not know-
ing at the moment that he was dead. She had to
pass the bed, too; but we took her between us,
and got her past without her looking in. You
would hardly think what happened afterwards.?
I was in no condition for anything but receiving
what I was told.
?At first, she seemed to take it quietly; whether
because of her aunt being very bad in the fever,
or what, I don?t know. But, after a little while,
she suddenly went mad?perfectly mad?for nine
days. And there were we, with the people in the
yard, as usual; and her aunt in the fever at one
end of the house, and she mod at the other. That
was a time to go through !?
?And did they die too?? I asked.
?They! 0 no! She is the daughter who was
married, nearly two years ago, to the curate of X.
She recovered by degrees, till she was quite well.
And her aunt recovered too; but it was a great
struggle.?
?And how cheerful you look now!?
?0, yes! You see, we have always so much to
do; that is a great thing for people who have had
to go through such a season. The poor creatures
who had to die are out of their pain, and buried
away; and those who had to emigrate are gone.
You observed this morning how healthy the coumi-
try-peopl9 look; and so they do. The women
have careworn faces; some of them thinking of
their dead children, perhaps; and if you were t4~
570
see them in June, before the cropping begins, you
would not think quite so well of their looks as you
do now. And it is sad to see the grass-grown
roads to depopulated villa~es; and to see brambles
choking up the doors where neighbors used to go
in and out; and nettles growing tall where many
a woman that I knew used to sit and spin, with
her children playing round her?half of them now
dead, and the rest in the orphan school or the
workhouse.?
?I saw potatoes growing on the floor of one
roofless house, and cabbages in another.?
?Very likely. There is no want of heart among
the Irish, as I am sure I need not tell you. But,
if the hungry can get food out of a dead neighbor?s
hearthstone, they must do it, without too much
refining. I dare say the cheerfulness of our house
may grate a little on your feelings, after all I have
told you; but ??
?Do not say a word about that,? I exclaimed;
?I am too glad to see it; I know too well how
natural it is, to have one critical thought, to pre-
sume ?
?It is natural,? replied she, in her sprightly
tone. ?Our children are going out into the world
?marrying, or otherwise settling, very happily.
And there is no very pressing misery about us
now, though there is more distress than you see,
and the prospects of the district are far from being
even what they were before the famine. But it is
harvest time now; and we are gay at harvest time.
My husband and I say, however, now and then,
that we hope there will be no more famines while
we are here; for we do not think we could go
through it again.?

- --
Patrick O'Sullivan
Head of the Irish Diaspora Research Unit

Email Patrick O'Sullivan
Email Patrick O'Sullivan

Irish-Diaspora list
Irish Diaspora Studies http://www.brad.ac.uk/acad/diaspora/

Personal Fax National 0870 284 1580
Fax International +44 870 284 1580

Irish Diaspora Research Unit
Department of Interdisciplinary Human Studies
University of Bradford
Bradford BD7 1DP
Yorkshire
England

From Email Patrick O'Sullivan

The Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages
has an online presence at the Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, with an outline
of the courses offered there by Dr. Glenn Gilbert.

Amongst the reports available at the Web site is this one...

Shelta/Gammon by Heather Tondini, Spring 1996.
http://www.siu.edu/departments/cola/ling/reports.htm

A helpful introduction to the literature and debates around that intriguing Irish Diaspora
manifestation, the secret Traveller language/languages, Shelta.

P.O'S.

- --
Patrick O'Sullivan
Head of the Irish Diaspora Research Unit

Email Patrick O'Sullivan
Email Patrick O'Sullivan

Irish-Diaspora list
Irish Diaspora Studies http://www.brad.ac.uk/acad/diaspora/

Personal Fax National 0870 284 1580
Fax International +44 870 284 1580

Irish Diaspora Research Unit
Department of Interdisciplinary Human Studies
University of Bradford
Bradford BD7 1DP
Yorkshire
England

From: "Hollander, Joel"
Subject: RE: Ir-D Irish Impressionists

Paddy,

Thank-you for notice of the web site devoted to Irish Impressionist painters,
including Richard Moynan (1856-1906), whose career also included a tenure as
lead caricaturist for The Union (Dublin) from July 1887-October 1889 under
the pseudonym "Lex". I will examine Moynan's career as a caricaturist, in
part, in a forthcoming essay that will appear in next year's volume of The
New Hibernia Review. In that article, whose larger emphasis traces the
trajectory of Parnell's career as it was interpreted by political
cartoonists working for nationalist organs, I will try to demonstrate not
only that late 19th century historiographers rarely consider the graphic
arts an art at all, but I will also suggest what Moynan's pseudonym means as
it relates to John Fergus O'Hea (1838-1922), whose professional life as a
leading nationalist caricaturist spanned six decades, beginning in the 1860s
as the primary cartoonist for A. M. Sullivan's The Weekly News.

Sincerely,

Joel Hollander, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Art History
College of Arts & Sciences
Florida Gulf Coast University
10501 FGCU Blvd. South
Fort Myers, FL 33965-6565
(941) 590-7194

----------
From: irish-diaspora[at]Bradford.ac.uk
[SMTP:irish-diaspora[at]Bradford.ac.uk]
Sent: Friday, July 14, 2000 3:26 AM
To: irish-diaspora[at]Bradford.ac.uk
Subject: Ir-D Irish Impressionists



From Email Patrick O'Sullivan

One of those labour-of-love Web pages, but nicely done...

Irish Impressionists

http://home.earthlink.net/~ckau/irish/

Brief items on the following Irish painters - most of them based in
France, and/or
influenced there...

Walter Osborne
William John Leech
Richard Thomas Moynan
Roderic O'Conor
Nathaniel Hone
Frank O'Meara
Aloysius O'Kelly
Dermod O'Brien
Sarah Purser
Henry Jones Thaddeus
William Gerard Barry
Paul Henry
John Lavery
Nathaniel Hill
John Kavanagh
Norman Garstin

With reasonable quality - though small - images of key paintings.
Enough to give you a
flavour of the work...

P.O'S.

From yesterday's New York Times...

Forwarded for information..

P.O'S.


> > ------------------------------------------------
> > MONEY, JOBS, BIG CARS: HOW'S IRISHMEN/IRISHWOMEN TO COPE?
> > NY Times 17 Jul :0
> > By WARREN HOGE
> >
> > DUBLIN -- Ireland's economy has been growing faster than any other
> > in the Western world, and the country whose master playwright, Sean
> > O'Casey, once said, "I'd rather be inspired by idleness than
> > bullied by 'busyness' " now has some of the hardest-working
> > citizens in Europe.
> >
> > For the first time in its history, Ireland has a problem with too
> > much money, not too little -- with too few people living here, not
> > too many.
> >
> > The subject of what to keep, what to shed and what to adapt for
> > modern times is on lots of Irish minds as the country -- a proven
> > force in developing sustaining myths to overcome failure, poverty
> > and melancholy -- turns to coping with the novelty of prosperity.
> >
> > "You have tourists giving out about us that we've lost our
> > courtesy, that we don't have time to talk to one another anymore,
> > that our Irish identity is slipping away," said Maureen Gaffney,
> > head of The National Economic and Social Forum, a consultative
> > group partly funded by the government. "We're very disturbed by
> > that, and I'm not a Cassandra, but I think we have the vibrancy
> > here to handle it."
> >
> > >From the cranes that lumber across the Dublin skyline to the
> > traffic jams that pile up along the Liffey as early as 6:30 a.m.,
> > progress is intruding. With so many opportunities at home,
> > Ireland's young professionals no longer leave and those that did a
> > generation ago have now come back. But one disruptive consequence
> > of this happy turnaround is a 20 percent-a-year spiral in the cost
> > of housing that is pricing the middle class out of city living.
> >
> > The look of new Dublin pubs seems to have more to do with the East
> > Coast of the United States than the West Coast of Ireland.
> > Typifying the trend, a former flower stand just off the landmark
> > Ha'penny Bridge has been turned into a minimalist cafe called
> > Pravda with Cyrillic lettering design features and a menu featuring
> > Thai wraps, tortillas and spicy chicken wings.
> >
> > There are 20,000 job openings, and an estimated 200,000 more coming
> > up in the next five years that will have to be filled by
> > foreigners. Executives are often out of town on recruitment trips,
> > and businesses have dropped their earlier insistence that
> > applicants speak English.
> >
> > Yet in a development that is bringing shame to Ireland, the country
> > that sent millions of people abroad as poor immigrants is proving
> > inhospitable to needy outsiders who are arriving here. Despite the
> > jobs in Dublin going wanting, asylum seekers, who now number 1,000
> > a month, are being dispersed around the country and barred from
> > working. "We thrived on tales of the Boston Brahmins and 'No Irish
> > need apply,' " said Maurice Hayes, a member of the Irish Senate and
> > chairman of The Ireland Funds, the country's largest charity. "Now
> > we think the only immigrants we want are people who otherwise would
> > have gone directly to Silicon Valley."
> >
> > Car sales are up 40 percent this year over 1999, and traffic
> > congestion projected for the year 2010 has already arrived, but
> > highway construction to accommodate all the new vehicles lags.
> > Rural areas even 40 miles out of Dublin are becoming bedroom
> > communities, with country lanes pressed into service to handle the
> > new commuting class. "Nobody thought ahead about this, and you
> > can't just go out and buy a mile of road down at Woolworth's," said
> > Colm McCarthy of DKM Economic Consultants Ltd.
> >
> > Public services in particular are suffering from underfunding and a
> > lack of planning, and their downtroddeness stands out starkly
> > against the shine and efficiency of the booming private sector.
> > Last year, nurses went on strike for higher wages.
> >
> > "Our nurses were working so hard they were really and truly bent,"
> > said Mary Tynan, 48, the head emergency room nurse at Beaumont
> > Hospital. Describing the nurses' desperation, she said the value of
> > the house she bought for $12,000 in 1979 was now $265,000, and
> > people on public salaries could not afford to buy homes anymore.
> >
> > Inflation is running at 5.2 percent, three times the average of the
> > other 10 countries that have adopted the euro currency and
> > therefore a centralized interest rate. That rate today is 4.25
> > percent, at least four points lower than where analysts say the
> > Irish central bank would peg it if it were still operating
> > independently. While participation in Europe over all has been
> > enormously beneficial to Ireland, bringing subsidies that helped
> > spur the boom, the government finds its hands tied in coping with
> > inflation without the customary rate-increase mechanism at its
> > disposal. "It's like playing tennis without a racket," Mr. McCarthy
> > said.
> >
> > With inflation threatening to overtake negotiated wage increases of
> > 5.5 percent, union leaders are questioning the national
> > business-labor agreement that since 1987 has brought wage restraint
> > in exchange for job growth. An emphasis on computer literacy and
> > information technologies, however, is creating a permanent
> > underclass as it spreads affluence, and the abundance of things is
> > spawning what Senator Hayes called relative deprivation. "People
> > who were poor now have more to eat," he said, "but they don't have
> > a television, and everyone down at the pub is talking about what
> > they saw on TV."
> >
> > Social habits are changing, breaking down traditional patterns of
> > association. "You used to be part of an extended family or a
> > village," said Brendan Keenan, 55, business editor of The
> > Independent. "Even after you came to Dublin, you were a Corkman or
> > a Galwayman, and that's who you socialized and drank with. Now you
> > might have one set of friends at work and another at home, and home
> > isn't around the corner, it might be in a suburb."
> >
> > The government has attracted admiration for its success in steering
> > the process that has brought the promise of an end to a century's
> > sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland, but it is squandering its
> > reputation through revelations from tribunals of cronyism and
> > corruption that still permeate Ireland's public life.
> >
> > Frank Madden, 38, of Ballsbridge Motors in one of Dublin's upscale
> > neighborhoods, is a salesman with a prospering clientele who want
> > to swan around in eye-catching cars and stock their garages with
> > extra ones from the sports and convertible lines. "When I began in
> > this business, people bought cars as a necessity," he said. "Now
> > they buy them as indulgences."
> >
> > Mr. Madden is making more money than he ever dreamed possible, and
> > his company will move 6,000 Mercedes-Benzes off its jammed lots
> > this year. "Ten years ago," he said, "we'd have had aa celebration
> > if we sold 600."
> >
> > But seated in his busy showroom, he was not in a party mood. "I'm
> > here from 8 in the morning to 8 at night, and I can genuinely say
> > it's not healthy for me or my family. I cannot be the husband and
> > father I want to be at night after days like these, and I hear my
> > colleagues around the floor say the same thing. We don't feel
> > self-rewarded by the good times we're in."
> >
> > There is a consensus that the two biggest changes in Ireland are
> > the fall of the Roman Catholic Church as social arbiter and the
> > rise of women as active participants in society. Brendan Kennelly,
> > a leading poet and professor of modern literature at Trinity
> > College, Dublin, said the most important development in Irish
> > letters was the emergence of talented women among writers. "From
> > being adored symbols on pedestals, women have come down to become
> > articulate voices, no longer passive receivers of homage but
> > expressive of their own problems and the problems in the culture,"
> > he said
> >
> > One of Ireland's new generation of outspoken women is Ivana Bacik,
> > 32, who as the Reid professor of criminal law at Trinity occupies
> > the same post once held by the current president of Ireland, Mary
> > McAleese, and by her predecessor, Mary Robinson. "I grew up in Cork
> > in the 1970's, and Ireland was a horrible place to be," she said.
> > "People are misconceiving the past. There has always been huge
> > poverty and huge hypocrisy, but now you can talk openly about them.
> > When I was a student here in the early 1990's, it was radical to be
> > in favor of even giving information to women."
> >
> > The boom has happened so speedily that some people are not yet
> > convinced that it is here to stay. "Irish history has been one of
> > uninterrupted failure since the beginning of the 19th century, and
> > this has impinged on our psychology," Mr. Keenan said. "The big
> > question for many people now is when is it going to end, because
> > they remember that everything else eventually went wrong. The
> > question for them is not what are the consequences but where's the
> > catch?"
> >
> > Mr. Keenan believes it will last. "It's simple," he said. "In the
> > euro zone, having a young, well-educated population is like having
> > oil."
> >
> > Another reason Ireland seems to be weathering the rapid and
> > profound cultural shock of the past decade reasonably well is the
> > solidarity built up over centuries from being small, compact,
> > homogeneous and deprived. "Say what you will about the Catholic
> > Church," Senator Hayes said, "there was something important for us
> > in having been told over and over of being all together and equal
> > before God."
> >
> > Fintan O'Toole, a columnist and author who travels to New York once
> > a month to do theater reviews for The Daily News, credited
> > Ireland's particular ease with America. "Ireland is a culture
> > besotted with American images," he said. "What's happened with all
> > this American investment is that you have come to us, and instead
> > of making us change, it gives us a way to continue with our old
> > life."
> >
> > Ireland was not as comfortable with its stereotype as it pretended
> > to be for its own survival, he said, and there is little nostalgia
> > for the misty past.
> >
> > Mr. Keenan said: "No one wants dear old Ireland back. Dear old
> > Ireland was nice for the tourists, but not for us."
> >
> > There is also little gloating at how well things seem to have
> > worked out. "There is real pleasure in the fact that economists and
> > politicians now come over here to find out how we did it and in the
> > realization that we are world class because we were always
> > considered second rate," Mr. Keenan said.
> >
> > Ms. Gaffney said she thought that the Irish today drew strength
> > from the unity gained, paradoxically, from having been dispersed
> > around the globe. "'We were supposed to represent our country as
> > well as ourselves and not just competently but with skill and
> > confidence," she said. "There was a tremendous emphasis on the
> > presentation of ourselves to the world."
> >
> > Ireland got through hard times on this ability to compose its own
> > narrative, and that same talent may keep it secure and distinct
> > through the good times. "You know, in Gaelic, when you greet
> > someone, the actual words mean, 'What's your news?,' " Mr. Kennelly
> > said. "We live on stories. I always think of that phrase, 'I am the
> > way, the truth and the light.' You see, the truth comes second;
> > it's the way that matters. It's how you tell things. And that is
> > the oldest Irish tradition."
> >
> > ends
> >

From: Peter David Hart
Subject: Re: information please


I was wondering if anyone on the Ir-D list might be able to give me
biographical information on two people:

S (Sheila?) Ryan, active in Cumann na mBan in 1920-21.

P.J. Lynch, a reporter or editor on the Sunday Independent in 1920-21, in
touch with, and a supporter of, the Dail.

I would appreciate any help given.

Thanks very much.

Peter Hart

Queen's University

From Patrick O'Sullivan

We have mentioned before on the Ir-D list Chris Arthur's book of essays, Irish
Nocturnes...

The Richmond Review, internet journal at
http://www.richmondreview.co.uk
has just republished one of those essays...
Walking Meditation by Chris Arthur
'Keeping unthinkingly in step is surely at the root not just of modern Ulster's crisis but
of that global indifference which allows so much to happen which should not...'

That will give a flavour of the style and the method.

"Walking Meditation" was first published in the Contemporary Review, Vol. 265 no. 1547
(1994), pp. 315-323. This revised edition of "Walking Meditation" can be found in the
collection of eighteen of Chris Arthur's essays titled Irish Nocturnes, ISBN 1888570490,
published by The Davies Group, Publishers, Aurora, Colorado, USA email:
daviesgroup[at]msn.com

A reminder - the latest issue of the Charlotte Austin Review, another online literary
journal...
http://www.charlotteaustinreview.com
includes a review of Chris Arthur's book, Irish Nocturnes, plus an interview with Chris
Arthur.

P.O'S.


- --
Patrick O'Sullivan
Head of the Irish Diaspora Research Unit

Email Patrick O'Sullivan
Email Patrick O'Sullivan

Irish-Diaspora list
Irish Diaspora Studies http://www.brad.ac.uk/acad/diaspora/

Personal Fax National 0870 284 1580
Fax International +44 870 284 1580

Irish Diaspora Research Unit
Department of Interdisciplinary Human Studies
University of Bradford
Bradford BD7 1DP
Yorkshire
England

From Patrick O'Sullivan

This is, in part, a test message...

The Irish-Diaspora list - like all the scholarly lists - has entered the (northern
hemisphere's) summer holiday lull.

What we usually do is simply keep things ticking over, and regularly put out items that
have reached our in-tray. But do not be surprised if there are quiet periods.

It is most probably a good idea if people with messages and specific research queries
continue to post them to the Ir-D list - you simply never know who is or is not on
holiday. As ever, we will keep an eye on things - and, if it looks like a good idea,
after the holiday we will call attention to Ir-D messages that might have been missed.

Also, it looks like there will be occasional interruptions to the University of Bradford's
email systems. This is the time of year when all academic institutions check their
systems. And the U of Bradford Computer Centre is still recovering from the burglaries of
a few months ago.

If anyone needs to contact me personally this email address
Patrick O'Sullivan
works outside the University of Bradford system

P.O'S.

- --
Patrick O'Sullivan
Head of the Irish Diaspora Research Unit

Email Patrick O'Sullivan
Email Patrick O'Sullivan

Irish-Diaspora list
Irish Diaspora Studies http://www.brad.ac.uk/acad/diaspora/

Personal Fax National 0870 284 1580
Fax International +44 870 284 1580

Irish Diaspora Research Unit
Department of Interdisciplinary Human Studies
University of Bradford
Bradford BD7 1DP
Yorkshire
England

From Patrick O'Sullivan

OK - from our monitoring - it looks as if some earlier Ir-D messages hit a glitch, or
glitches, somewhere in the systems.

So, I will post some messages again.

Of course it may have been a glitch only in our monitoring system. So... Apologies to
anyone who gets some messages twice...

P.O'S.

- --
Patrick O'Sullivan
Head of the Irish Diaspora Research Unit

Email Patrick O'Sullivan
Email Patrick O'Sullivan

Irish-Diaspora list
Irish Diaspora Studies http://www.brad.ac.uk/acad/diaspora/

Personal Fax National 0870 284 1580
Fax International +44 870 284 1580

Irish Diaspora Research Unit
Department of Interdisciplinary Human Studies
University of Bradford
Bradford BD7 1DP
Yorkshire
England

From Patrick O'Sullivan

We came across this item, an estimation of the importance of 'John Joseph Hughes, an Irish
immigrant gardener who became the first Catholic archbishop of New York...'

http://www.city-journal.org/html/7_2_a2.html

How Dagger John Saved New York?s Irish
by William J. Stern

'We are not the first generation of New Yorkers puzzled by what to do about the
underclass. A hundred years ago and more, Manhattan?s tens of thousands of Irish seemed a
lost community, mired in poverty and ignorance, destroying themselves through drink,
idleness, violence, criminality, and illegitimacy. What made the Irish such miscreants?
Their neighbors weren?t sure: perhaps because they were an inferior race, many suggested;
you could see it in the shape of their heads, writers and cartoonists often emphasized. In
any event, they were surely incorrigible...'

- --
Patrick O'Sullivan
Head of the Irish Diaspora Research Unit

Email Patrick O'Sullivan
Email Patrick O'Sullivan

Irish-Diaspora list
Irish Diaspora Studies http://www.brad.ac.uk/acad/diaspora/

Personal Fax National 0870 284 1580
Fax International +44 870 284 1580

Irish Diaspora Research Unit
Department of Interdisciplinary Human Studies
University of Bradford
Bradford BD7 1DP
Yorkshire
England

From Patrick O'Sullivan

The post-colonial, Fanon-influenced,' Ethnic schizophrenia' thesis seems now to be gaining
support - albeit half-hearted support - from an unlikely source, the (British) Institute
of Psychiatrists... See...

UK life blamed for ethnic schizophrenia
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/health/newsid_807000/807945.stm


- --
Patrick O'Sullivan
Head of the Irish Diaspora Research Unit

Email Patrick O'Sullivan
Email Patrick O'Sullivan

Irish-Diaspora list
Irish Diaspora Studies http://www.brad.ac.uk/acad/diaspora/

Personal Fax National 0870 284 1580
Fax International +44 870 284 1580

Irish Diaspora Research Unit
Department of Interdisciplinary Human Studies
University of Bradford
Bradford BD7 1DP
Yorkshire
England

From Patrick O'Sullivan

It is worth reminding people - recalling some recent queries on the Ir-D list - that the
National Archives of Ireland is gallantly trying to put more resources on the Web.
Including research source guidance, and the database of Irish people transported to
Australia in the nineteenth century (since that was to hand...). Worth browsing, and
checking regularly...

http://www.nationalarchives.ie/facts.html

P.O'S.

- --
Patrick O'Sullivan
Head of the Irish Diaspora Research Unit

Email Patrick O'Sullivan
Email Patrick O'Sullivan

Irish-Diaspora list
Irish Diaspora Studies http://www.brad.ac.uk/acad/diaspora/

Personal Fax National 0870 284 1580
Fax International +44 870 284 1580

Irish Diaspora Research Unit
Department of Interdisciplinary Human Studies
University of Bradford
Bradford BD7 1DP
Yorkshire
England

From: Patrick Preston
Subject: Re: Ir-D 'Ethnic schizophrenia'

After having read this interesting article, I was reminded of Oscar Handlin's Boston
Immigrants. The book had a lengthy section which described the higher than average rates
of
mental illness diagnosed among Irish immigrants to Boston during the mid-to late 19
century.
Perhaps there is something to it, a 'Migration Stress Syndrome'?

Patrick Preston
Glendale Community College
Glendale, CA

irish-diaspora[at]Bradford.ac.uk wrote:

> >From Patrick O'Sullivan
>
> The post-colonial, Fanon-influenced,' Ethnic schizophrenia' thesis seems now to be
gaining
> support - albeit half-hearted support - from an unlikely source, the (British) Institute
> of Psychiatrists... See...
>
> UK life blamed for ethnic schizophrenia
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/health/newsid_807000/807945.stm
>
> --
> Patrick O'Sullivan
> Head of the Irish Diaspora Research Unit
>
> Email Patrick O'Sullivan
> Email Patrick O'Sullivan
>
> Irish-Diaspora list
> Irish Diaspora Studies http://www.brad.ac.uk/acad/diaspora/
>
> Personal Fax National 0870 284 1580
> Fax International +44 870 284 1580
>
> Irish Diaspora Research Unit
> Department of Interdisciplinary Human Studies
> University of Bradford
> Bradford BD7 1DP
> Yorkshire
> England

From: "Marion R. Casey"
To: irish-diaspora[at]Bradford.ac.uk
Subject: Re: Ir-D John Joseph Hughes


Hi Paddy,

It should be kept in mind that this article was written for and published
by the Manhattan Institute, a conservative policy think tank. The
Manhattan Institute is known for its ability to move marginal issues onto
the public agenda through aggressive use of the media.

Stern's article on Hughes was meant to offer a model for contemporary
underclass behavioural reforms - the "pull yourself up by your
bootstraps" school. It was picked up and published in
abbreviated form in a widely seen piece in the Wall Street Journal.

While I am an admirer of Archbishop Hughes and believe that history should
be
brought to the public in new ways, Stern's political agenda results in a
skewed interpretation of the New York Irish. Hughes comes across as the
super hero without whom the Irish would never have made it, without whom
there never would have been a "revolution in values" that brought the
Irish under control. It's all a bit too simplistic for my likes.

Are there other instances in the diaspora where the Irish have been used
this way?

Marion


On Fri, 21 Jul 2000 irish-diaspora[at]Bradford.ac.uk wrote:

>
>
> >From Patrick O'Sullivan
>
> We came across this item, an estimation of the importance of 'John Joseph Hughes, an
Irish
> immigrant gardener who became the first Catholic archbishop of New York...'
>
> http://www.city-journal.org/html/7_2_a2.html
>
> How Dagger John Saved New York?s Irish
> by William J. Stern
>
> 'We are not the first generation of New Yorkers puzzled by what to do about the
> underclass. A hundred years ago and more, Manhattan?s tens of thousands of Irish seemed
a
> lost community, mired in poverty and ignorance, destroying themselves through drink,
> idleness, violence, criminality, and illegitimacy. What made the Irish such miscreants?
> Their neighbors weren?t sure: perhaps because they were an inferior race, many
suggested;
> you could see it in the shape of their heads, writers and cartoonists often emphasized.
In
> any event, they were surely incorrigible...'
>
> --
> Patrick O'Sullivan
> Head of the Irish Diaspora Research Unit
>
> Email Patrick O'Sullivan
> Email Patrick O'Sullivan
>
> Irish-Diaspora list
> Irish Diaspora Studies http://www.brad.ac.uk/acad/diaspora/
>
> Personal Fax National 0870 284 1580
> Fax International +44 870 284 1580
>
> Irish Diaspora Research Unit
> Department of Interdisciplinary Human Studies
> University of Bradford
> Bradford BD7 1DP
> Yorkshire
> England
>

From Patrick O'Sullivan


Forwarded on behalf of the Boston Seminar in Immigration and Urban History


Boston Seminar in Immigration and Urban History: 2000-2001 Schedule

Dear Colleague:

Although we are still at the height of the summer, the days are starting to
grow shorter and we are already looking forward to the Boston Immigration
and Urban History Seminar's 2000-2001 season. Matthew Frye Jacobson will
begin the series on Thursday, September 28, with a presentation entitled
"Fortunate Pilgrims and Bronx Primitives: Literary Ethnicity in the 1960s
and 1970s." Donna Gabaccia will offer the comment. Between October and
April, six more programs will fill out our calendar. You will find a
schedule for the year enclosed. All sessions will take place at the MHS
beginning at 5:15. Following each program, the Society will serve a light
supper.

Veterans of last year's series know that we circulate the essays in advance
to everyone who subscribes for them. For $25.00, you will receive a full
year of papers. In order to be certain of receiving your personal copy for
the first session in a timely fashion, I urge you to send your check at your
earliest convenience to Erin Pipkin at the MHS. The check should be made
out to the Massachusetts Historical Society and sent to 1154 Boylston
Street, Boston, MA 02215. Copies of the papers will also be available at
many local history departments and libraries.

We are looking forward to seeing you on September 28.


Best regards,
Conrad E. Wright

PS. The Society also hosts another colloquium series, the Boston Area Early
American History Seminar. If you would like a copy of its schedule, please
let Erin know. She can be reached at (617) 646-0505 or at
epipkin[at]masshist.org.

_______________

The Boston Seminar in Immigration and Urban History
Fall 2000-Spring 2001


SEPTEMBER 28, 2000
Matthew Frye Jacobson, Yale University
"Fortunate Pilgrims and Bronx Primitives: Literary Ethnicity in the 1960s
and 1970s"

OCTOBER 26, 2000
Werner Sollors, Harvard University, et al.
"Multilingualism in the United States"

DECEMBER 14, 2000
Irene Bloemraad, Harvard University
"A North American Naturalization Gap: Comparing Naturalization Rates and
Processes of Portuguese Immigrants in Massachusetts and Ontario"

JANUARY 25, 2001
Marilynn S. Johnson, Boston College
"Riots and the Racialization of Police Brutality in New York, 1900-1905"

FEBRUARY 22, 2001
Eve Stern, University of Rhode Island
"Redefining Americanism: Immigration, Catholicism, and Contests over
National Identity in Providence"

MARCH 22, 2001
Michael M. Topp, University of Texas at El Paso
"Whiteness and Masculinity in the 1912 Lawrence Strike: The Making of
Italian American Syndicalist Identity"

APRIL 26, 2001
Sven Beckert, Harvard University
"Cotton, Capital and Coercion: A Global History"

From Patrick O'Sullivan

Forwarded for information, and food for thought...

NEH awards

The National Endowment for the Humanities announced Monday that it was
awarding 206 grants totaling $18.9-million to colleges, universities, and
other organizations. The awards range from $22,332 to $224,000, and cover
programs in summer 2001.

University of Notre Dame (Indiana) : $100,444
Project: Anglo-Irish Identities, 1600-1800
Description: A summer seminar for 15 professors

University of Southern Maine: $25,000
Project: Course Development in the Honors Program
Description: Design of two new interdisciplinary courses on diaspora and
human rights.

Madonna University: (Detroit) $140,974
Project: Forging the 20th Century Urban Identity
Description: A four-week summer institute for 30 high-school teachers using
Detroit to explore the experience of American industrial cities in the 20th
century.

University of Missouri, in Columbia: $167,154
Project: Teaching the African Diaspora: an Afro-Romance Approach
Description: A five-week summer institute for 30 professors to analyze the
literature of the African diaspora written in French, Portuguese, and
Spanish.

Ohio State University : $177,000
Project: The Invisible Giant: the Place of Brazil in (Latin) American Studies
Description: A five-week summer institute for 25 professors to examine the
course of Brazil's historical development, with its distinct Portuguese
heritage, as an integral part of Latin America


Temple University: (Philadelphia)
$94,062
Project: American Ethnic Autobiography: Identity, Language, and Culture
Description: A summer seminar for 15 schoolteachers.

University of Texas at San Antonio: $174,000
Project: Derrumbando Fronteras/Breaking Boundaries: Integrating
Mexican-American and Latino Literatures Into the Secondary Curriculum
Description: A four-week summer institute for 28 high-school teachers on
Latino/Latina literature, with an emphasis on works by Mexican-American
authors.


Brigham Young University (Utah): $75,574
Project: 400 Years of Spanish History Through the Theater of Antonio Buero
Vallejo
Description: A summer seminar for 15 schoolteachers.


University of Wisconsin at River Falls: $141,439
Project: Picturing America: Cinematic Representations of America's Ethnic
Diversity
Description: A five-week summer institute for 25 high-school teachers on film
depictions of minorities.

From Patrick O'Sullivan

The History of Women Religious Conference always includes matter of interest to Irish
Diaspora Studies. Here is Elizabeth McGahan's Call for Papers...

Forwarded on behalf of
"E McGahan"

CALL FOR PAPERS
INDIVIDUALS IN COMMUNITY:
WOMEN RELIGIOUS AND CHANGE-PAST, PRESENT,FUTURE
JUNE 17-20, 2001

The History of Women Religious Conference will hold its fifth triennial
conference at

MARQUETTE UNIVERSITY, MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN

Sunday, June 17 through Wednesday morning, June 20,
2001

This conference aims to explore the history of Women Religious by
addressing questions, themes or issues which have shaped, and/or continue to
influence, the historical evolution of religious congregations. Sessions might
focus on encouraging vocations, education, foundation, community governance,
changing ministries, ethnic, linguistic or racial tensions, demographic
composition, relations with clergy and hierarchy, spiritual tradition, or
emerging models of religious life.

Papers which examine themes from anthropological, spiritual, sociological,
historical, theological, cultural studies and material cultural perspectives are
especially welcome.

Proposals for papers in the form of a one-page abstract accompanied by a
one-page c.v., are requested (by letter, email or fax) by August 1, 2000. Panel
proposals are encouraged but individual proposals are also acceptable. The
language of the conference is English but proposals may be submitted in French.

For information please contact: Elizabeth McGahan
Dept. of History and Politics
University of New Brunswick
P.O. Box 5050
Saint John, New Brunswick
CANADA E2L 4L5

Phone: 506-648-5600
Fax: 506-648-5799

EMAIL: emcgahan[at]nbnet.nb.ca


http://www.unbsj.ca/arts/history/emcgahan/conference.htm.

Thank you.

Yours truly,
Elizabeth McGahan

From Patrick O'Sullivan

Forwarded for information...

Subject: CFP: 12th Berkshire Conference on the History of Women

"Local Knowledge -- Global Knowledge"

12th Berkshire Conference on the History of Women
"Local Knowledge -- Global Knowledge"
Location: Connecticut, United States
Call for Papers Date: 2000-12-15

The 12th Berkshire Conference on the History of Women, "Local Knowledge --
Global Knowledge," will be held June 6-9, 2002 at the University of
Connecticut in Storrs, Connecticut, USA. The Program Committee welcomes
proposals that explore the relationship between local knowledge, global
knowledge, the history of women, and the emergence of notions of gender
across time and culture. How have people reconfigured their ideas and
representations to take account of expanding -- or contracting -- worlds,
changing economic conditions, and new demands for labor? What are the
specific challenges to historians of women posed by indigeneity,
nationalism, imperialism and ethnicity? What is the relation between what
we can know about women in any local situation and what we can know about
women broadly and comparatively? The Committee particularly encourages
submissions in earlier periods, those which address sources and
methodology, and panels that break down the divide between "the west"
(North America and Western Europe) and other regions of the world. Funding
may be available for some international panelists.

We prefer complete panels, normally three papers, a comment and a chair;
one person should not assume the task of chair and comment. The Committee
also seeks workshops, roundtables, teaching sessions, and presentations
that depart from the traditional conference format. Individual papers will
also be considered. The Committee may rearrange submissions to shape the
program; submission of a proposal will indicate agreement with this
proviso. No one may appear on the program more than once in any capacity.

Please submit three (3) copies of the full proposal, postmarked by December
15, 2000 to the appropriate program co-chair. Each proposal must include a
standard cover sheet, downloadable from our website, listing panel title or
roundtable theme and full contact information (address, phone, fax and
e-mail) for panel organizer and all participants. It must also include a
title and one-page abstract for each paper or presentation; a one-page
curriculum vitae/resumÈ for each participant (including the chair and
comment); and a self-addressed, stamped postcard.

Contact information:
European topics to Ruth Mazo Karras, Department of History, University of
Minnesota, 614 Social Sciences Building, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA.
African, Latin American, Asian, Pacific and comparative topics to Barbara
Molony, Department of History, Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, CA
95053, USA.
Canadian and United States topics to Claire Potter, Center for the
Americas, 255 High Street, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT 06457, USA.
Email: cpotter[at]wesleyan.edu

Call for Papers website:
http://www.berksconference.org

From Patrick O'Sullivan

The following item appeared on the H-Catholic list. Is any member of the Ir-D list able
to respond to Patrick Holt's request, and construct a brief, annotated bibliography on
Catholicism in Ireland?

And Irish Catholicism world-wide?

The hard word is 'brief'...

P.O'S.


Forwarded on behalf of Patrick Holt [Pjholt[at]worldnet.att.net]

Subject: New feature for H-Catholic


Several H-Catholic editors have already heard about an idea I will now suggest to the
list. Since our research interests vary over so many times and places it might
be good to have a feature that broadens our collective knowledge. My first
thought was to ask some established scholars on the list to provide the list
with short annotated bibliographies on a subject for those of us who know
nothing of the field. We would want to keep each list to perhaps 5 books with
only 1 paragraph or so of annotation. I would love to hear off-list from anyone
who feels competent and motivated enough to contribute. I would want the
bibliographies to remain fairly broad...perhaps on Catholicism in just one
particular Country for example. I look forward to hearing about your ideas.
Patrick Holt